FYI, this is what happens when you sell your bib

[DoctorK]

If I buy 10 registrations and you want one but it's sold out, I'll scalp it and make an extra $100 for myself (or whatever). If transferring race bibs is allowed, how is Disney going to prevent that? Just PayPal me the $100 and then we'll use the runDisney site. And if I'm a responsible crook, I won't just take your money and run.

Oh, and for the next race I'll buy 100 registrations and soon if you don't register within the first hour buying from a scalper will be your only avenue. *maniacal laughter*

 

[DoctorK]

It seems like an easy thing to implement until you start thinking about the actual implementation...

I didn't mean to sound like a jerk. I just meant that sometimes when you go to actually implement something other complications pop up that might not have been apparent initially. Like how giving multi-day ticket discounts to people visiting WDW led to those booths on the side of 192 where people buy and resell those tickets.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

If I buy 10 registrations and you want one but it's sold out, I'll scalp it and make an extra $100 for myself (or whatever). If transferring race bibs is allowed, how is Disney going to prevent that? Just PayPal me the $100 and then we'll use the runDisney site. And if I'm a responsible crook, I won't just take your money and run.

Oh, and for the next race I'll buy 100 registrations and soon if you don't register within the first hour buying from a scalper will be your only avenue. *maniacal laughter*

The way MCM does it you need to submit a request to THEM to transfer the bib, and send them the receipt for what the person paid.

 

[IamTrike]

The way MCM does it you need to submit a request to THEM to transfer the bib, and send them the receipt for what the person paid.

I think that's a good way to handle it. If they controlled the transaction and charged a fee for the transaction it seems like it would benefit all parties.

On a side note I'm sorry I was kind of a "Stitche's Great Escape" head in this thread earlier. I was frustrated because I felt that this incident was being flogged as an example, of what happens anytime someone sells a bib, where I viewed this as the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Bookwood]

Maybe a bib that can't be used could only be transferred back to RunDisney then repurchased from RunDisney. (with no increase in price except for the "transfer costs"? which shouldn't be much, which would stay with RunDisney so seller only gets what they paid.)

 

[MightyDuck001]

Since these races always sell out, what would prevent someone from buying up a ton of registrations, waiting until the month before and scalping them like they're sporting event tickets? It seems like an easy thing to implement until you start thinking about the actual implementation...

Except that races much more popular than Disney do have bib transfer and they don't have this problem... Specifically, the Marine Corps Marathon has a system for legitimate bib transfer that opens for a certain window and there's a fee involved and they don't appear to have this problem.

 

[DoctorK]

Except that races much more popular than Disney do have bib transfer and they don't have this problem... Specifically, the Marine Corps Marathon has a system for legitimate bib transfer that opens for a certain window and there's a fee involved and they don't appear to have this problem.

You don't think scalpers would get involved? Heck, there are creeps stalking kids at the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom portals trying to trick them into trading away valuable cards so they can sell them on ebay. People at the DL expo were buying dozens of shirts to sell on ebay at higher prices. I think Disney is just a different situation than almost every other race.

 

[bumbershoot]

You don't think scalpers would get involved?

If it is ONLY done through rundisney, how can scalpers be involved, though? If they got lazy and you could call in with someone else and transfer the bib that way, then they could (like transferring DVC points, or ADRs). But if you can't guarantee that someone you know would get it, if Disney did it smart, where's the market?


I get that by not being able to transfer it to someone they get your money without having to provide anything for you. And you might vacation at that time anyway, so then they get your family's money on top of it. So it makes money for them to not transfer. But they'd make money if they transferred, too.

Then again, I called rundisney yesterday twice, with several hours in between, and got the same guy both times. They might not have a ton of people working there and maybe they can't handle the call volume.

 

[dragitoff]

sometimes mistakes get made by the race staff. A few years ago, DW and I ran a 5k together. It was her 1st 5k and I ran a pretty fast race for me at the time. We were hanging around for the awards ceremony because my time was good enough to be close to placing for my age group. To our surprise, they called DW's name for 2nd place in her age group. She walked up embarassed because she didn't expect to win anything and collected her medal. A friend of ours was faster than her and in the same age group and didn't place at all so we thought something was up. When they posted the times, it was found out they put the wrong timing chip on my wife's bib and she actually had mine. I guess the moral of the story is I would have placed 2nd in the women's age 30-34 Jinglebell Jog that year if I were a chick.

 

[DoctorK]

The simplest answer is probably the correct one, which is that runDisney doesn't think it's worthwhile to them financially, and there isn't any disincentive to preventing transfers.

 

[WhereInFlorida]

Yep, more trouble than it is worth. The MCM transfer program works by the person finding someone to transfer with then they go thru a process of transferring with the run director. It is the process of finding someone where the scalpers will show up and register as soon as it opens to make a few bucks...."Wanna transfer my bib, it will cost you $50 plus what I paid "

The simplest answer is probably the correct one, which is that runDisney doesn't think it's worthwhile to them financially, and there isn't any disincentive to preventing transfers.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Yep, more trouble than it is worth. The MCM transfer program works by the person finding someone to transfer with then they go thru a process of transferring with the run director. It is the process of finding someone where the scalpers will show up and register as soon as it opens to make a few bucks...."Wanna transfer my bib, it will cost you $50 plus what I paid "

You can't do that with MCM, though. You need to provide a receipt for exactly what was paid.

 

[jeanigor]

You can't do that with MCM, though. You need to provide a receipt for exactly what was paid.

What to keep someone from making it two separate transactions and only providing MCM with the one for the race fees? Sort of like slipping the front desk clerk a $20 because he can get upgrade your hotel room. The hotel still makes their money and they only have proof of the cost of the room.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

What to keep someone from making it two separate transactions and only providing MCM with the one for the race fees? Sort of like slipping the front desk clerk a $20 because he can get upgrade your hotel room. The hotel still makes their money and they only have proof of the cost of the room.

Nothing prevents it, but there's no incentive for someone to pay more when you can buy plenty of bibs at market price. There are often more people selling than buying.

 

[jeanigor]

Nothing prevents it, but there's no incentive for someone to pay more when you can buy plenty of bibs at market price. There are often more people selling than buying.

Do you think that would be the case with runDisney races as well?

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Do you think that would be the case with runDisney races as well?

I assume so. I always see a lot more people with available bibs than people trying to buy bibs.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

I assume so. I always see a lot more people with available bibs than people trying to buy bibs.

Last year on the Princess Facebook page there were tons of ladies trying to get rid of their bibs. I even saw them on Craigslist. Some tried to sell their bibs over market value but the closer to race, most just wanted to get something to re coup their loss. I would say on average Princess bib's were going for $100.00.

 

[timmac]

I've thought about this a bit, and here are my thoughts.

1) Yes, runDisney should provide a mechanism to allow those who can no longer race to transfer a bib.
2) Though there are a lot of people looking to sell bibs (at least anecdotally), the demand for Disney races is far far higher than the supply. I respect the anecdote about people trying to sell bibs on the princess facebook page... but how many was it really? Even 100 people is a spit in the bucket of the overall registered base.
3) It should not be allowed as a source of profit to the person selling their bib, in fact, it should probably be at least a minor financial loss. Otherwise we'll see a ticketmaster situation where everything is sold out in five minutes and the only avenue to purchase is through scalpers.
4) In particular, I support private-party "transfer" remaining disallowed, due to the above.

With all that said, here's my suggestion:

After races sell out, Disney allows you to add your name to a waitlist (and requires you to provide your payment information at that time). You can remove yourself from the wait list at any time, and in doing so avoid any risk of being charged. (but in doing so, should you rejoin the wait list later, you'll be in the back of the line) The wait list, of course, is in first-come-first-served order.

Disney's policies still should explicitly disallow transfer of bibs privately, whether it be for cost or otherwise. However, they should be offering an option to cancel your registration, which then makes it available to fulfill waitlist requests. The amount of your refund should scale down in time, perhaps from a maximum of 90% initially down to no refund whatsoever at the 60 day mark. The idea here is that there's at least a small financial penalty involved, so that nobody will snatch up registrations just for the purpose of hoarding. A sliding scale refund system encourages those who won't be able to make it to declare that fact sooner rather than later.

I probably haven't thought everything through perfectly, but that's my general idea.

 

[jmasgat]

timmac Nice suggestion---one of many that the creative types at Disney could come up with if they really wanted to.

Honestly, I would think the administrative cost would be exceeded by the financial gain to Disney. But since Disney contracts out this work (right? Trackshack), it seems as though all of these possibilities are hindered by the capability of the service provider (Trackshack) and the marginal cost benefit perceived by Disney.

But still... money taken in for an inital registration + money taken in for any cancellation/re-assginment/transfer....you'd think Disney would be all over this!

Maura

 

[MaMa3Princess]

In the case of the selling of Princess bibs no it was not 1,000's. I would not say that most people trying to sell their bibs were not looking at it as a money making avenue. Most of the people selling were either injured, a friend or a family member did not want to raise anymore, or they could not complete travel arrangements.
Given the type of race crowd that Disney caters to (first timers, new runners) issues like these will keep popping up and people will continue to sale or give bibs away. I agree the cost of these races, Disney Should have a transfer policy in place but by any means that are not obligated to do it though.